Sharon robotics team honored at competition | News

SHARON – The Tiger Techs Robotics Team Orange traveled to the FIRST Lego League world championships in Detroit this week and captured a first-place win in Core Values – Inspiration.

The team competed with 108 other teams from around the world. The team’s coach, Dave Tomko, won the coach/mentor award. 

“This is an awesome experience for them,” Tomko said. “They are representing western Pennsylvania at the world level here.”

The robotics teams, made up of fourth- through ninth-graders, are part of the FIRST Lego League organization. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”

They are under the leadership of Tomko, Kelly Roys and Darcy Wiesen. The teams are funded by community sponsors from the Shenango Valley and the Sharon City School District.

The Orange team advanced to the world stage after their performance at the Western Pennsylvania FIRST Lego League championship tournament held in December at Sewickley Academy in Pittsburgh.

“Not only are they participating in the robot game, but they’re getting the opportunity to speak with kids from different countries and learn all about them,” Tomko said.

The team also participated in the robot project, which is a research project, and core values. For each category, they gave a five-minute presentation to a panel of judges. The team got a second look for every category.

They placed in the top 40 for their robot work.

The Tiger Techs have invented the “Shape Shifter” for the “into orbit” season, proposing solutions to problems humans face during long-duration space exploration. 

Their project qualified them as a top-20 semi-finalist team and will advance them to the Ninth Annual FIRST Lego League Global Innovation Award for the first time in the program’s history.  

Tiger Techs Orange Team was selected from entries from more than 30 countries for their project’s innovative solution.

The team will travel to San Jose, Calif., June 30 to present the innovation to expert judges.

All semi-finalists will participate in a two-day, hands-on innovation event, which culminates in the awarding of the top prize of $20,000 to continue work on their inventions; two runners-up will take home $5,000 each.

The team traveled to Detroit on Tuesday and on Wednesday set up their Tiger Techs tent. They put up orange lights on the tent, and inside had a video playing of the team where people could come in and take a look.

The Tiger Techs were the only team be interviewed by the FIRST Lego League Channel. The live interview was for their project, the Shape Shifter. The Orange Team was the only team present to have qualified for their innovative project.

The students have interacted with other students from all over the world. They played Laser Tag with an Australian team Friday night.

The next step for the team is to take their Global Innovation Award for Shape Shifter to the next level by applying for a provisional patent.

 According to the organization, FIRST Lego League Global Innovation Award teams must consider possible barriers to implementation, document the evaluation of their invention, and validate their design with professionals working in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Past Global Innovation Award finalists have brought their inventions to market, received patents, and incorporated as businesses.